Jay-Z and Beyonce Blow Minds on Opening Night of U.S. ‘On the Run II’ Tour: Review

Wow. Whoa. Holy _____. Is that enough for a review? Jay-Z and Beyonce brought the opening night of their North American On the Run II tour to Cleveland last night.

Processing all the amazing music and visuals packed into this spectacle feels like trying to review two or three different concerts, one hell of a big-budget movie, and about five of those really fancy perfume commercials all at the same time.

Over the course of about two and a half hours, music's most famous couple told the story of their romantic troubles and triumphs — as chronicled on their recent albums Lemonade, 4:44 and Everything is Love — with the help of an absolutely massive video screen. In between each of the various song suites, high-budget short films would help set the scene or artistically fill in the narrative.

And when the screens were used to show the couple and their dancers performing, it was never just some lazy re-print of the stage action—the added graphics and camera angles enhanced the show in often dazzling ways. And the backing band was amazing, working from a multi-level stage behind the video screens that looked like it came from the opening credits for The Muppet Show. They got their time to shine several times, particularly during the opening of a rousing "Show Me What You Got."

The level of detail packed into every minute of the show is staggering. At the end of "99 Problems," Jay-Z called out for "Ring the Alarm," then sat down on a large mirrored throne, which immediately rotated to reveal Beyonce, bathed in red light, delivering a furious rendition of that song - but over the backing music to her husband's "Takeover."

Both stars also proved they didn't need all the effects to captivate the crowd, with Jay-Z effortlessly keeping everybody's eyes locked on him during a dramatic reading of the stripped-down "The Story of O.J.," and Beyonce absolutely tearing the place down with her powerful rendition of the heartbreaking "Resentment."

Not sure how they're going to ever top this performance, unless it involves feeding everybody in the arena with two fish and five loaves of bread, but it'll sure be fun to find out.